12 Days of Christmas: Arts Fest, First Night

By Chris Morelli on December 06, 2017

STATE COLLEGE – Looking for a really unique gift for someone on your Christmas shopping list?

We’ve got an idea.

Today, our “12 Days of Christmas” feature takes us to the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Although Arts Fest is several months away, you can always give an Arts Fest gift. And who doesn’t love Arts Fest.

The folks at Arts Fest sell their unique posters year-round. These posters are true works of art and are perfect suitable for framing. The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts posters have been the work of one man for more than 30 years. Lanny Sommese, distinguished professor emeritus of visual arts in Penn State’s Stuckeman School of Visual Arts, has always designed the Festival’s poster. Although Sommese retired from Penn State in the spring of 2014 after 44 years of teaching, he has no plans to retire from designing the Festival’s annual poster.

Every year, Sommese comes up with something special.

For example, the 2017 poster features the Festival’s Jester standing shoulder to shoulder with an artist and a performer in a stylized Central Pennsylvania landscape with the tower of Penn State’s Old Main in the background. A happy and radiant sunrise presides over the whole scene.

If the poster isn’t your thing, how about some First Night buttons? The 2018 First Night State College provides general admission to indoor performances, the Pegula Ice Arena and numerous workshops. Children 12 and under are admitted to events free with a button-wearing adult.